Trafford 2-1 Lancaster City

The Dolly Blues were controversially denied a deserved draw at Shawe View on Tuesday night after a spirited second-half performance.

Two disallowed goals late in the game from Zach Clark each looked like they had drawn Phil Brown’s side level only to be ruled out by referee Chris Isherwood.

The spell of football immediately after the opening whistle was dominated by the hosts with Jack Dorney and Phil Dean causing City problems.

Chances were at a premium however and against the run of the play the Dollies were awarded a penalty when Chris McDonagh’s late lunge on Joe Whittington handed City a spot kick 23 minutes in.

Ryan Winder stepped up to confidently dispatch the ball low past Russ Saunders to give Lancaster a lead that lasted just 90 seconds.

Shortly after the restart Billy Akrigg’s pass caused a mix-up between Jamie Street and Adam Freeland allowing McDonagh to steal the ball and find danger-man Dorney who cut inside and fired a powerful shot into the roof of the net.

Eight minutes later the hosts took the lead they deserved on the balance of play with Dorney at the heart of the attack once more.

Cutting inside from the left wing the forward found space to hit a fierce strike across Mike Hale into the far corner.

After the restart Lancaster came out firing on all cylinders and dominated the majority of the second 45 minutes.

Aaron Taylor was the first to draw a finger-tip save from Saunders with a low shot from the edge of the box and Joe Whittington was then denied by a fine reaction save.

It looked like City had found an equaliser with 15 minutes to play when a scrambled ball was headed across goal by Neil Marshall and swept home by Clark in the six-yard box.

The linesman’s flag went up for an offside call against Marshall with the Lancaster players arguing the ball found the skipper via a Trafford boot.

If there were some doubts as to the decision to rule out the first goal, the second nine minutes from time bewildered most.

Winder’s cross was flicked into the path of Clark who turned and volleyed home but as the celebrations began Isherwood whistled indicating a foul against Lancaster for a shirt pulling offence to the disbelief of the City players and dugout.

Despite the disappointment the second-half performance hinted a return to winning ways isn’t far around the corner for the Dolly Blues.